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Midnight screenings of Twitter-driven B-movie hit Sharknado will be held in movie theatres around the country starting Aug. 2, cable TV network Syfy announced today. That news, which comes on the heels of several similar TV-in-theatres initiatives, is noteworthy for a few reasons beyond the implications for Tara Reid's career.

Regal Entertainment Group is backing the Sharknado rollout, in some 200 locations, with a ticket price of $12.50. "You know how audiences have had fun with Rocky Horror Picture Show over the years. If the internet reactions to this film are any indication, then our moviegoers are primed and ready to enjoy Sharknado larger than life in cinemas,” said Chris Sylvia, director of digital marketing.

Just last Friday, as Kate Middleton went into labor, BBC Worldwide began distributing its documentary Born to Royalty theatrically in two dozen U.S. markets, including L.A., Chicago and New York. The feature-length film, narrated by Hugh Bonneville of Downton Abbey, examines the history and rituals of new generations being raised into the British royal family. It will head to DVD and air on BBC channels later this year, with updated footage from the frenzy surrounding little George Alexander Louis.

Also this month, AMC is screening initial episodes of new series Low Winter Sun in select theaters. It also plans a major swan-song push for Breaking Bad with full-season screenings at the Film Society of Lincoln Center in New York. Sundance Channel, owned by AMC parent AMC Networks, held binge screenings of its breakout new drama series Rectify in several cities earlier this year. That move followed strong reception to complete screenings of six-hour miniseries Top of the Lakeat the Sundance and Berlin film festivals in January and February.

TV companies' appetite to exploit a century-old institution, namely the movie theatre, is a sign of the industry times. As the lines between the movie and TV worlds continue to blur, TV networks are embracing the big screen as never before, from talent deals and creative currents to marketing to exhibition.

At this point, bookings are far from summer blockbuster scale, and may even be single show times in rather small theaters. And the TV-film divide has been routinely bridged in some respects by veteran hands like Discovery and HBO, for at least a decade. (HBO held almost every season premiere of its marquee show, The Sopranos, at Radio City Music Hall, where The Godfather premiered in 1972.)

Still, these recent moves are significant at a moment when the balance of power is shifting constantly.

“Theatrical was contemplated when we first started thinking about this,” Soumya Sriraman, BBC Worldwide’s executive VP of home entertainment and licensing, told me. BBC employed a similar rollout for its Daniel Craig-narrated nature doc One Life last year and plans more projects down the line. “Theaters play a different role than television in terms of cultivating an audience and engaging them. This is not just a platform for us — it is a way to really galvanize interest in this film at the start of its life in the marketplace.”

These networks are onto something. Market conditions are prime for more exploration. On an independent level, theaters have an unmet appetite for content given the disappearance of mid-budget domestic titles. A decade ago, boutique studio divisions such as Warner Independent and Paramount Vantage mounted $20 million to $40 million productions designed to rack up Oscar nominations and generate Shakespeare in Love-type returns. Amid the financial meltdown and a preceding credit crunch, these divisions shuttered and Hollywood diverged into a business of $200 million tentpoles and microbudget genre fare.

Cable TV -- and throw in Netflix, with series like House of Cards and Arrested Development -- has captured much of that mojo, filling the airwaves with the kind of stylish and substantive material that film distributors have largely abandoned. "There isn't a person in the feature film world who doesn't desperately want to get involved in TV, primarily cable," Breaking Bad producer Mark Johnson said at a Cable Show panel in June. Ratings have followed suit, with many cable shows far outpacing broadcast peers.

Given that realignment, it is hardly surprising that audiences would want to experience quality TV fare on the big screen. With the cost of cable subscriptions rising and debate raging about cord-cutting and a la carte pricing, the notion of shelling out $12.50 for the occasional TV event seems downright logical. That's especially true given that A-list cinematographers, directors, writers and editors are behind these shows -- we're no longer in the world of laugh tracks and Aaron Spelling defining the aesthetic values of the medium.

I haven't sampled Born into Royalty in theatres, but I have routinely shelled out for docs produced by ESPN or History that I could have waited to come on cable. Some of it is the pure essence of the environment -- the oversize, dark room, the presence of a crowd. As a longtime admirer of The Sopranos, I can think of few better times I have had in a movie theatre than when I watched the final-season premiere alongside two thousand fellow fans. Sharknado buffs, meanwhile, will find incentive to head to theatres given that Regal will not only allow but strongly encourage tweeting and texting during theatrical screenings. Think of the sheer tonnage of recaps and blogs being written about television -- at least a portion of that communal response and engagement can surely transfer to theatres. And from the exhibitors' point of view, isn't that better than that one extra screen showing R.I.P.D.?

Watching TV in movie theatres -- once you get past the apparent incongruity, it's a scenario in which everyone could possibly win.